Movie Details
| Title: | Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me | |
| Director: | David Lynch | |
| Year: | 1992 | |
| Genre: | Drama | |
| Times Seen: | 1 | |
| Last Seen: | 01.07.07 |
Other Movies Seen By This Director (2)
- Dune
- Inland Empire
| Date Viewed | Venue | Note |
| 01.07.07 | Netflix | This site would be a lot more active lately if it also included TV I was watching. On the first of the month I started going through Twin Peaks, from my Internet-downloaded pilot to my Season One DVDs to my VHS-ripped Season Two DVDs culminating in this netflix rental of the movie. Although I'd seen Season One before, rented the European tacked-on-ending version of the pilot, and watched this several times before, I'd never seen Season Two so I never liked the movie much. Now, going through them all again in order, I have to say it all makes its own kind of cohesive sense. There's even one line in the movie (spoken by Heather Graham) that refers to the state of things after the show ends. So in this week, while watching these I've also been reading up on tons of Twin Peaksian trivia. Like how there was gonna be a big romance arc between Cooper and Audrey but Maclachlan (who was dating Lara Flynn Boyle at the time) said his character would be too moralistic to enter into a relationship with a highschool girl. And also how the reveal of Laura Palmer's killer was never really intended by Lynch but more or less forced on him by the network and co-creator Mark Frost, whom I believe is under-credited in the grand scheme of Twin Peaks and responsible for a large part of the more TV soap opera-esque vibe of the show. I think it's a clear sign that while the show was mixed with humor and pretty much coined the word "quirky," the movie (presumably more Lynch and less a collaboration with Frost) is much more oppressive and obtuse. I think it's the mix of the two sensibilities that created the best parts of the show, so I can definitely see why lots of people don't like the movie. Anyway, because of the Audrey arc getting cut and the forced hand of Laura's killer, the second half of the second season ended up with a lot of storylines that were supposed to be small sideline bits having to bear the weight of the show. And it's really like night and day to watch before the killer's revealed and after. The show becomes very aimless and loose and trivial story points start taking longer and longer to work out. Up until then though... I'd say the first 18 episodes or so... you can't make better TV than that. It's wonderful and surreal and funny and scary and utterly addicting. And the music, since Badalamenti never scored for specific episodes but rather recorded a library of cues that the episode directors had to pick and manipulate to fit, ends up being VERY thematic and memorable. so anyway, even though the end became a bit of an endurance mission, there's enough in this show to make it really really great. I can only imagine watching it fresh as it came on (and ya know, it seems like it was on A LOT longer ago than 1990), not knowing the answer to any of these mysteries ahead of time. I forget when exactly I first heard the big secret of Laura Palmer's killer but I know it was pretty much the first thing I learned about it. But even with the big shock of the experience ruined for me, I still had a great time seeing the second season for the first time. Although, I'm pretty happy it ended when it did. Although the last episode is very good, I didn't particularly like how it ended and I'm glad it didn't go on so I don't have to see where that leads. I'd much rather have Agent Cooper end up retiring from the agency and buying a cabin in the woods and filling out his days as a Twin Peaks deputy, hanging out with all the good people of the town and finding odd mysteries in ordinary things ad inifinitum. So now that that's over, I've enqueued David Lynch's short films and Dumbland in preparation for getting to see him in person with Inland Empire at the end of the month. Although I kind of miss not having Twin Peaks to watch now, I know that hopefully this spring season two will finally be released on DVD so I can revisit it with hopefully some commentaries and interviews, then with lots of luck, good number from that will finally tip over the guys who own the rights to the Fire Walk With Me deleted scenes and the movie will be re-released as a 2-disc special edition with that hour of new footage and I'll be able to see that. I have little hope for the pilot getting an American DVD release though, although it's a shame because they could put both versions on it and maybe finally get Lynch to do a commentary. OK now i'm just dreaming. |
